Collapsible shipping receptacle



R. S. ZEBARTH COLLAPSIBLE SHIPPING RECEPTACLE June 3, 1958 Filed March 28, 1955 United States Patent 2,837,265 CQLLAPSIBLE SHIPPING RECEPTACLE Ralph S. Zebarth, Hickman Mills, Mo., assignor to Gordon Johnson Equipment Company, Kansas City, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application March 28, 1955, Serial No. 497,177

2 Claims. (11. 229-47 The most important object of the present invention is to provide improvements in chick shipping receptacles such as that disclosed in U. S. Patent No. 2,682,964, granted to Norman F. Toadvine, on July 6, 1954, this being a continuation-in-part of my co-pending application Serial No. 455,936, entitled Collapsible Transporting Box for Chicks and filed on September 14, 1954.

In this type of shipping receptacle, there is provided a top member and a body portion including a foldable wall and partition structure, all of which are fabricated from sheet metal and, therefore, adapted for continual re-use. A disposable bottom member is made of cardboard or the like so that the same may be left with the purchaser for use as a feed tray after the wall and partition structure and the top member have been returned to the shipper for sterilization and eventual re-use. These receptacles have been found economical, durable, easy to handle, and eflicient and effective in use.

The primary object of the present invention is the provision of guide means on each wall of a shipping receptacle for receiving an upstanding flange on a disposable bottom member and thereby holding the walls and the flange against relative movement.

A further important object ,of the present invention is to provide guide means on the receptacle which takes the form of plates joined to the walls of the receptacle in a downwardly and outwardly extending, angular disposition so that an upstanding flange on the disposable bottom member is not only received between the plates and walls but is also guided into flat engagement with the walls to provide added strength and rigidity in assembled receptacles.

Another important object of the present invention is the provision of guide means, 'as mentioned above, which, by its engagement with the flange on the bottom member, maintains the lower edges of the wall and partition structure spaced above the bottom member and thereby lessens the possibility of damage to the feet of chicks placed in the receptacles for shipment.

A yet further objective of the present invention is to provide means projecting downwardly from a partition, centrally of the body portion, for piercing the bottom member, during assembly of the receptacle, and engageable with the bottom member on its outermost surface to prevent sagging of the bottom under the weight of chicks therein and to cooperate with the above-mentioned guide means in holding the bottom member in' place on the body portion.

Other objectives of the present invention include the provision of guide means which project outwardly from the receptacle and thereby serve to maintain individual receptacles of adjacent stacks spaced sufliciently to permit ice fication which follows and from a study of the appended drawing wherein:

Figure l is atop, plan view of a shipping receptacle made in accordance With the teachings of the present invention, parts being broken away to reveal details of construction; and

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary, side elevational view of a number of stacked receptacles embodying the principles of the present invention, the upper receptacles being shown in cross section to reveal details of construction.

Referring now to the drawing, wherein like numerals indicate similar parts, the shipping receptacle chosen for illustration includes, as-elements thereof, a top member 20-22 may be arranged in intersecting relationship, as

' best shown in Fig. 2. Each of the partitions 20-22 is adequate ventilation between the stacks; and other, more 1 minor objectives which will become apparent in the specihingedly connected at each end thereof to one of the walls 16-18, as indicated by the numeral 30.

The top member 10 is provided with a lateral, peripheral flange 32 which surrounds the upper, marginal portion of body portion 12 and thereby prevents relative movement between top member 14) and body portion 12. The

top 10 has an elongated, upright channel member 34 at-- tached thereto in substantially traversing relationship to each of the corners thereof. A central channel member 34 is aligned with one of the partitions 20-22 above the point of intersection therebetween when the body portion 12 is expanded. Beneath each channel member 34 there is an elongated slot 36 and top 10 is additionally provided with a plurality of spaced perforations 24. Channel members 34 serve to maintain the superimposed receptacles of a stack spaced apart so that there is adequate ventilation to chicks within the receptacles at all times.

Bottom member 14 is also provided with a lateral, peripheral flange 38, which flange 38 surrounds the lower marginal portion of the body portion 12 when the latter is expanded and placed therein. The bottom member 14 maybe made from any suitable, inexpensive, disposable material such as cardboard which is sufficiently rigid for the purposes intended. Each assembled shipping receptacle generally includes a sheet 40 of corrugated paper or the like. I

Each of the walls 16-18 is provided with an elongated guide plate 42 which extends substantially through the length of the respective walls 16-18. Along onelongitudinal edge thereof, each plate 42 is integrally fastened to body portion 12 by means of fasteners 44, in substantial parallelism with the upper and lower edges of the walls 16-18. Beneath the fasteners 44, the plates 42 are bent outwardly along a longitudinal line to present a ated adjacent the lowermost edges of the walls 16-18.

Adjacent the point of intersection therebetween, one of the partitions 20-22 is provided with means designated broadly by the numeral '60 for piercing the bottom member14 and engaging the latter to prevent sagging thereof when chicks are placed in the receptacle and to cooperate with guide plates 42 in holding bottom mem- 10, a body portion 12 and a disposable bottom member.

I llody portion 12 has a pair of opposed end walls 16,: a pair of opposed side walls 18, a partition 20 and a ber 14 in place on body portion 12. The means 60 chosen for illustration includes a pair of plates 62 each of which is fastened to the partition 20 and has a channel 64 formed therein for rotatably receiving an elongated rod 66. The rod 66 is rebentupon itself intermediate its ends to present a key 68 by means of which rod 66 may be rotated in channels 64. Key 68 also limits the extent of reciprocation of rod 66 in channels 64. Adjacent the lowermost end thereof, rod 66 is bent to present a lateral extension or arm 71? which terminates in an upstanding tip 7'2. Arm 70 is preferably offset, as at 74, to present an edge which enhances piercing movement of arm 70 through bottom 14. When bottom 14 has been pierced, arm 70 may be rotated into bearing and supporting engagement with bottom member 14.

In assembly, therefore, a body portion 12 is first expanded from the collapsed position and placed within a disposable bottom member 14. The upstanding flange 38 on the bottom member 14 is engaged by the guide surfaces 43 of the plates 42 and the angular disposition of the latter serves to move the flange 38, in a wedging action, into flat engagement with the walls 16-18. This fiat engagement of the flange 38 with the body portion 12 not only serves to hold the latter in an expanded position but also presents a receptacle having strength and rigidity characteristics substantially equal to 'those of receptacles having integral side and bottom walls.

Simultaneously, the bottom member 14 is pierced by arm 70 and rod 66 and the latter rotated to swing arm 70 and the tip 72 away from the severed area of member 14 to a point Where arm 70 and tip 72 engage the outermost surface of member 14 and not only serve to hold the latter in place on body portion 12, in cooperation with guide plates 42, but also prevent sagging of bottom member 14 under the weight of chicks in the receptacle.

As is best shown in Fig. 2, the plates 42 arespaced from the lowermost edges of the walls 16 -18 a distance less than the height of the flange 38 and, therefore, the flange 38 is clamped between plates 42 and the body portion 12, with the lowermost edges of the latter spaced above the sheet 40 and the disposable bottom member 14. Thus, there is little likelihood of the chicks within the shipping receptacle having their feet caught beneath the walls 1618 or the partitions- 20-22 during transshipment.

It is obvious, therefore, that the plates 42 serve not only to clamp the flange 38 in place but also to hold the latter in flat engagement with the body portion 12 substantially throughout the periphery thereof and, for that reason, provides strength and rigidity in a shipping receptacle which has not heretofore been contemplated. Viewing Fig. 2, it is seen also that the plates 42 on receptacles of adjacent stacks are in engagement and therefore guarantee adequate spacing between the stacks for ventilation purposes.

When the chicks have been placed in the receptacle, the

top members are placed thereon and the receptacles, are arranged in stacks which are bound, in the usual manner, with cord or the like.

When the receptacle is assembled, the sheet 40 underlies the chicks and provides a firm footing during transshipment. At the point of delivery, the top member 10 and the body portion 12 may be removed and the bottom member 14 left as a feeding tray or the like for use in the brooder. The chicks may be left on bottom member 14 and not handled at all as they are moved into the breeder, it being common knowledge that a certain percentage is generally lost when it is necessary to pour the chicks from a shipping container into a brooder or to transfer them by hand. With a bottom member 14 such as that herein disclosed, the chicks find their way over the flange 38, after which time the ribbed sheet 40 is ideally suited for use as a feed tray. v

It is obvious that the embodiment herein disclosed is a preferred form only and that changes and niodifications may be made therein without departing from the principles of the present invention. Such changes or modifications are contemplated hereby and it is, therefore,

desired to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a shipping receptacle, an open bottom, tubular body having opposed, perforated side and end walls; a closure for said bottom provided with an upstanding peripheral flange circumscribing said wall; an elongated, horizontal plate mounted on the outermost face of each wall respectively for holding the body spaced from objects which might otherwise block ventilation through the perforations of the walls, said plates being spaced above said bottom a distance less than the height of said flange whereby to maintain the lowermost edges of the walls spaced above said closure and transverselyinclined and extending downwardly and outwardly from the walls for receiving the upperm'ost'edg'e of the flange, guiding and deflecting the same toward the walls as 'the closure is placed on the body and holding the flange wedged tightly and flatly against the walls; a partition within said body, said plates holding the body against movement to a position placing the lowermost edge of the partition into engagement with the closure; releasable means mounted on said partition and supported by the body between the end and side walls for holding said uppermost edge of the flange against the plates along the joinder between the plates and the walls, said releasable means engaging the closure for holding the same against sagging under influence of the weight of the contents placed in the receptacle and including an element extending through the closure and having a lateral extension engaging the lowermost face of the member, said extension being provided with means thereon for cutting a slot in the closure as the extension is forced through the closure and said element being rotatably mounted on the partition for swinging the extension to a position engaging said lowermost face of the closure after the extension has been forced through the closure.

2. In a shipping receptacle, a hollow body having (spposed side and end walls and a partition spanning the -distance between a pair of said walls; a member closing the bottom; and means on the partition intermediate the ends thereof engaging the member for holding the latter against sagging relative to the body, said means including an element extending through the member and having a lateral extension engaging the lowermost face of the member, said extension being provided With means thereon for cutting a slot in the memberas the extension is forced through the. member and said element being rotatably mounted on the partition for swinging the extension to a positon engaging said lowermost face of the member after the extension has been forced through the member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,384,151 Roberts et a1 July 12, 1921 1,797,373 Simmons Mar. 24, 1931 2,094,390 Warren Sept. 28, 1937 2,322,239 Kramer June 22, 1943 2,354,498 Brown July 25, 1944 2,375,700 Singley May 8, 1945 2,434,014 Rosenberg Jan. 6, 1948 2,615,611 Paul et a1 Oct. 28, 1952 2,682,964 Toadvine July 6, 1954 2,718,995 Carpenter Sept 27, 1955 2,741,419 Janz Apr. 10, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 383,301 Great Britain Nov. 17, 1932 

